On the go and no time to finish that story right now? Your News is the place for you to save content to read later from any device. Register with us and content you save will appear here so you can access them to read later.

'Help Me' signs written in Browns Island Hauraki Gulf mystery

6 Nov, 2016 5:04pm

4 minutes to read

Video will play in

Play now

Don't auto play

Never auto play

Source: Facebook / Sam Dimock. A fire on Browns Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf is still burning fiercely, doubling in size as winds start to fan flames. Fresh fire crews and helicopters with monsoon buckets are preparing to attack the blaze as it continues to burn 12 hours after the alarm was raised. Northern Fire Communications' shift manager Scott Osmond said fire crews had tried to contain the large vegetation fire overnight but it had continued to spread.

The Herald on Sunday can today reveal that a dinghy was found floating in the water and that the woman had left a hospital in the early hours of Monday morning.

The Waitemata District Health Board said yesterday they weren't aware of the woman being a former patient of theirs. The Auckland DHB wasn't able to confirm if she had been in its care, and the Counties Manukau DHB did not respond to a message.

Police were yet to officially link the dinghy to the woman, but it is understood it had no oars and no motor.

The woman told rescuers she "did not know" how she got to the island - but it's not believed she swam there. She said she had not eaten or drunk water for the duration of her stay, and was slightly dehydrated and sunburned.

Police said on Friday they had concerns for the women's mental well-being.

The island, also called Motukorea, is a 5.5km kayak from St Heliers, and about 1.3km from Little Bucklands Beach.

Fire Service spokesman Shaun Pilgrim said the fire was completely extinguished on Saturday morning, with 20 personnel still at the scene yesterday.

Dangerous trees were being felled, and crews were expected to leave about 2pm.

Rescuers described seeing the woman looking dishevelled, tired and upset when they arrived, but said they were mainly concentrating on extinguishing the fire.

Nick Mead, of Auckland Sea Kayaks, said the woman would have been passed by ferries on dozens of occasions - with some less than 200 metres from shore.

"It's a very tall story that she's been out there for four days," he said. "As soon as the story was told it sounded like a tall story.

"It's a busy waterway with boats going by all the time."

He said the Pine Harbour ferry and Waiheke car ferry both passed inside 200m from the island meaning it was highly likely she would be seen "if she's standing there waving at the boat skipper every time he goes past".

"Where she lit the fire, no boat can come in. It was probably the worst place to light the fire. What I would do is exactly what she didn't do."

Mead said the reports of dehydration also had him puzzled because the island had two large freshwater ponds.

Auckland Sea Kayaks offers tours to islands across Hauraki Gulf and had the Department of Conservation concession to take tourists to the island.

He had taken a trip to the island to check on the damage and said "it's looking pretty shocking at the moment".

The kukuyu grass which had burned so fiercely had grown well since the last stock were removed from the island as part of a pest eradication scheme, protecting birds including dotterill who nested there.

Before the fire, the grass was waist high and dry underneath. It is now scorched to the earth.